Nickelodeon Universe (Vyond City)
Nickelodeon Universe (formerly Camp Snoopy, later known as The Park at GCM) is the seven-acre (28,000 m²) indoor amusement park in the center of the Vyond City Mall (VCM), in Vyond City. Design Nickelodeon Universe is primarily lit by a glass ceiling, which is also the source of most of the heat for Vyond City Mall. It was originally built by the then-owners of Knott's Berry Farm in Buena Park, California. The floor has a wide variance in height – the highest ground level in the park is 15 feet (4.6 m) above the lowest. This allows for a far more naturalistic experience than would normally be found in an indoor amusement park. The park has four small roller coasters, but mainly has flat rides due to space constraints. History Camp Snoopy The park was originally known as Knott's Camp Snoopy, and later, simply Camp Snoopy, and was themed around the Charles M. Schulz "Peanuts" comic strip characters. Camp Snoopy themed areas are still located at the following Cedar Fair parks: Cedar Point and Knott's Berry Farm. Camp Snoopy was never aggressively themed to the Peanuts franchise; the park had a very outdoors and woodsy feel with more subtle references to the Peanuts franchise. Much of the original theming in the Camp Snoopy fountain and all around the park was already toned down by the time the rights to the Peanuts characters were lost. Theming that was removed from the park prematurely and was never replaced includes various kites near the ceiling, Charlie Brown and Lucy playing baseball above the Sports Grill restaurant (although their baseball remained suspended in the air afterwards), theming in Snoopy fountain, the retheming of Snoopy Boutique, Snoopy Bouncer, and the Snoopy Shop2 and much smaller theming. On April 7, 1998, New Horizon Kids Quest, Inc. opened a Kids Quest hourly child care facility in Knott's Camp Snoopy. It incorporated 17,385 square feet (1,615.1 m2) and served children ages six weeks to twelve years until it was removed in 2007. In 2005, there were plans to revitalize the Camp Snoopy image, and a new logo was introduced in October, called the "roller coaster logo" to replace the "canoe logo". However, this did not last long, as there were even bigger and unexpected changes coming within the next few months. The Park at VCM On January 9, 2006, Vyond City Mall management announced that talks between VCM and Cedar Fair Entertainment Co. (which owns the national rights to amusement-park branding of the Peanuts license) had broken down, primarily over the mall's rights to effectively market its park within and outside the United States, and effective January 19, the park's Peanuts branding would end, the park being temporarily renamed "The Park at GCM" while new branding was being applied. All traces of the Peanuts branding was removed, some very sloppily, although the gift shops were allowed to continue selling Peanuts merchandise without the Camp Snoopy label. The inflatable Snoopy character was removed and it took several months before it was finally replaced by a generic tree house inflatable. Many other landmarks in the park were either replaced by generic landmarks or not replaced at all. Nickelodeon Universe The park's new licensing deal and name, "Nickelodeon Universe", was announced on July 25, 2007. Construction began on August 27, 2007, work was completed in sections so 80 percent to 90 percent of the park remained accessible at all times. Nickelodeon Universe was completed on March 15, 2008. New rides include SpongeBob SquarePants Rock Bottom Plunge, a Gerstlauer Euro-Fighter style coaster themed after the Nickelodeon show SpongeBob SquarePants, the Splat-O-Sphere, a tower drop-ride in the center of the park, and the Avatar Airbender, a surf-rider attraction located in the center of the park as well and Brain Surge which is on the side of the park. The shooting gallery beneath the Ripsaw/Orange Streak roller coaster was gutted and was replaced by Rugrats Reptarmobiles. The site of the Mystery Mine Ride was completely demolished to make way for SpongeBob SquarePants Rock Bottom Plunge. This site also included an Old Time Photography studio and restrooms. Old Time Photography and restrooms did not return in this section of the park. Levy Restaurants partnered with Nickelodeon Universe to include a themed restaurant at the park. The restaurant was called EATS and is located in the former Park at VCM food court. Recently, the partnership ended; the EATS area closed and was replaced with a butterfly display. On March 12, 2008, the Star Tribune reported that the price of ride points, daily wristbands, and, in particular, annual passes, would take a significant price hike once the park transitioned to Nickelodeon Universe. The price for an annual pass, which had remained $99 per year since the park opened in 1992, would increase to $250, and daily wristbands would be raised from $24.95 to $29.95. Then in 2014, prices rose to where they currently stand at $32.99 for a daily wristband. Some decreed the price increases as being unjustifiably high when compared to other parks, such as much larger Walt Disney World at $249.95 and local park Valleyfair at $79.95–$99.95. Others defended the pricing as necessary to accommodate the millions of dollars of investment needed to rebrand the park as Nickelodeon Universe. Even though the Nickelodeon cable channel changed their logo in September 2009, Nickelodeon Universe still continued to use a variant of the splat logo. The old logo was phased out after the new, all-text Nickelodeon Universe logo was revealed in an ad for the park's New Year's Eve event. The new logo has now replaced all of the old logos on the website, and in the park. Rides and attractions Roller coasters Thrill rides Family rides Kiddie attractions Others Former rides